Dedicated server - unmanaged or managed

New member

You website is so busy and popular that your webhost finds it difficult to cope with your demands. So now, it's time for you to consider having a dedicated server. There are two choices you need to consider; managed or unmanaged server. Let's deal with the unmanaged server first. With the unmanaged server, you receive it in its rawest form. You get the hardware and resources that go with the server, and an internet connection.

The web host houses the equipment and keeps it physically secure; otherwise you're on your own. It's up to you to keep it fresh and updated and functioning properly. You yourself are responsible for the daily administrative tasks that are necessary, if you have the skills to thrive in that environment. If you don't have the skills for this, then you will need to employ IT staff who have the knowledge to work with server software. Otherwise, your task is almost impossible.

With all this flexibility and power that comes with an unmanaged server, you also have the responsibility and complexity that other people can't handle, it just gets too much. Managed Web Hosting Managed hosting is a solution that takes the complexity out of a dedicated server. The greatest advantage is that you generally get a full turn-key service where the host takes care of the server administrative tasks. They will allow you to build a custom package that suits you. Some of the additional services may include database administration and management of your web applications. While you are basically outsourcing server administration, you do get a significant level of control through control panel software. Advanced control panel applications like cPanel's (WHM) Web Host Manager and Plesk add ease to the process of server administration.

Now You know a dedicated server will provide all the resources and control you need, but it is also a more complex solution. If you've got the level of skill it requires, good. If not, you definitely need managed hosting. With the web host handling all the complicated tasks, you can enjoy the simplicity of shared hosting and still get all the benefits of a robust dedicated server. Most importantly, you can focus on other critical projects and just running your business. And running your own business itself can be difficult, with the responsibilities and choices you need to make daily. You definitely don't need yet another headache to deal with. An unmanaged server, so the best option you have is a managed dedicated server, which simplifies everything for you. Unless you like the challenge of managing your own server, with the responsibilities and daily costs every day.

Well-known member

When it comes down to selecting whether you are in need of a Managed Dedicated Server or an Unmanaged Dedicated Server you really only need to look at a few things. First off, going into Server Management, it can be quite pricey actually outsourcing IT work on your own. Not only are you considering the cost of infrastructure (the server), but you also need to consider the salary of the person in which you employ to run that server for you. I am going to use in this post two examples of pricing for Unmanaged and Managed Dedicated Servers from my business.

Unmanaged Dedicated Server

An unmanaged Dedicated Server is just that, it is unmanaged. What you get when you order a baseline server from a provider is a computer, inside of a building, hooked up to a really fast internet connection and cooled by some pretty crazy air conditioners. This is expensive, that is why you rent services from a provider rather than running them yourself. The Datacenter employs technicians that work day to day to make sure that the network is functional, that all of the power and cooling equipment is maintained and to build and put these computers online for customers as orders come in. Once again, more expenses that the provider has to worry about. Now, working in said Datacenter, on top of all the work that you are doing daily already, do you want to have to worry about every little issue that each and every one of the thousands of computers in this room might be having, or would you rather be productive and keep doing what you're doing? Well, we all know this answer.

When you purchase an Unmanaged Dedicated Server from the provider, the above tasks I have mentioned are those that which the provider is responsible for carrying out. When it comes to your software, updates and website, you are left in charge. For some people, this isn't an issue as most people that order a Dedicated Server either employ someone who is going to take care of this, or know how to do things themself. This is the cheap route, you can pick up a decent Dedicated Server for only $99 per month. Here is an example Unmanaged Dedicated Server:

Dual Intel Xeon 5520 - Fully Managed w/ cPanel

2.26 GhZ Dual CPU (8 Cores / 16 Threads)

24GB ECC Certified DDR3 RAM

Main Hard Drive: 2TB 7.2k RPM SATA or 120GB Solid State

Dell Hardware

20TB Monthly Bandwidth

1Gbps Port Speed

5 IP Addresses

100% Uptime Guarantee backed by SLA

Only $99.00 Per Month

Now, say you were to hire somebody to actually take care of this server for you, or numerous servers that you are in control of. You've got to consider that a decent technician's salary is going to be baseline at $43,200 per year guaranteeing you that your systems are looked at 8 hours of the day. Great, from 9AM to 5PM you have someone availible that is going to apply patches, monitor your services, perform updates, maintain your server's integrity and make any changes to your web application (website) that you need.... What about the other 16 hours in the day? So, lets take that $43,200 and multiply that by three, you are now paying $129,600 per year to employ 3 staff members to maintain and monitor your servers.... Pretty damn expensive if you ask me! Lets crunch some numbers here:

Server: $99 Per Month / $1,188 Per Year
Staff: $10,800 Per Month / $129,600 Per Year

Oh, and this isn't even considering the cost the license a control panel (if you so choose to have one), or any other software license that aren't included.

Now, what if we could cut that down to a fraction of the price?

Managed Dedicated Server

Now that we've discussed already what the job of a Datacenter Technician is, and how much it would cost you to employ 3 staff members to take care of your servers, let's figure out the cost to run a Managed Dedicated Server. Looking at the prices above, you may be wondering how this is possible? Quite simple actually, what happens is your hosting provider goes and hires these staff members instead to do the exact same job except on a larger scale. So, what is going to happen is you are going to pay a little bit extra per month, and have all of this stuff taken care for you. A managed service provider goes the extra mile. Included with every Managed Server you receive a free control panel license, free monitoring, free patches, free updates, free software installation and management, free disaster recovery, free all around maintainance, and so much more. You really don't need to lift a finger, all you've got to do is submit a ticket, let the team member know what you want done and it will be done. You get the exact same service as if you were to hire your own staff to complete the job... How much does this cost? Well, lets look:

Some of you are thinking, holy crap, so much for only a $65 difference? Here is how the provider is able to do all of this. Say that the Managed Dedicated Hosting provider is in charge of 200 managed servers. On a day to day basis, of that 200 customers, 25-30 of them either have an issue or submit a request for assistance. Completely doable with 1 team member on at a time, so 3 team members on rotating shifts throughout the day. Hold up, let me get that cost for your again:

Staff: $10,800 Per Month / $129,600 Per Year

BUT, since this is paid by the service provider and not you, lets see what you would be paying.

Server: $164 Per Month / $1,968 Per Year
Staff: $0 Per Month / $0 Per Year

VS

Server: $99 Per Month / $1,188 Per Year
Staff: $10,800 Per Month / $129,600 Per Year

So, instead of wasting the money and hiring these staff members full time to take care of 1-3 servers, they are now in charge of 200 working for the provider instead. So here is how the hosting provider makes their money. First off, they make money on the initial Dedicated Server just as they would at normal. Now, generating an additional $65 per Managed Dedicated Server at 200 servers that works out to $13,000 (A little bit more than what it costs to pay the employees).

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Hm, I think I went on in a tired ramble, it is 1AM over here, basically I've given you an idea of what it would cost to have your server managed 24/7 by a staff team, and a rough idea about what the difference between the two. It all boils down in the end to the fact that it is more cost effective to utilize a Managed Dedicated Server (though a little bit more expensive) than to hire a team to take care of it for you.

In the end it boils down to one question... Are you able to take care of all of these tasks by yourself, or are your going to need to hire somebody to do it for you?

What i'm trying to say here, is if you're running enough computer to hire the staff to take care of it, power to you, but unless you are running such a large amount of systems it wouldn't be logical to hire staff to take care of things, so it is only the best idea that you utilize a Managed Server, that is of corse unless you are able to maintain the systems yourself or the system is not mission-critical.

:clap: I hope that any of the above information makes any sense, as I said, it is 1 AM and it has been a very long day, I'm surprised @wms that I decided to even respond tonight haha.

New member

The only big difference is unmanaged or managed dedicated server is Price. Many companies monthly setup charge is very high. So is the manage server charge is very high. If you create own setup, your server charge is very low.

Member

The Only difference between unmanaged and managed server is that in unmanaged you need to do the tweaks of your server as per your requirement and it needs administration knowledge where as in managed server all need to be done by your service provider and you don't need to have administration knowledge.

Where as if any issue occurs with any part in managed server you can ask technical support from service/hosting provider but in unmanaged you need to be done by yourself.

Unamanged server cost is low where as managed server cost is high depending upon the service level agreement you have been taken like ticket response time etc.

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